Electric-current-shunting device.



PATENTED APR. 21, 1903.

E. R. CLIFF. ELECTRIC CURRENT SHUNTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22, 1902.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 N0 MODEL.

W/TNESSES I 8- PATENTED APR. 21, 1903.

E. R. CLIFF. ELECTRIC CURRENT SHUNTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22, 1902.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2v N0 MODEL.

W/ TNE SSE S 7% UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD R. omnnlor NEW YORK, N. Y.

ELECTRIC-CURRENT-SHUNTING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 725,826, dated April21, 1903.

Application filed March 22, 1902. S rial 1%. 99A4'Z. (No model.)

To (tZZ whom it may concern.- M 7 Be it known that I, EDWARD R. CLIFF, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, (West NewBrighton,) in the county of Richmond and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-CurrentShuntingDevices, of which the following is a specification.

In Letters Patent No. 651,697 of the United States, dated June 12, 1900,I have shown a device of this character which while efficient inoperation is more or less expensive in construction and when employedout of doors requires the addition of inclosing means whereby to protectits parts from the action of the weather.

The object of my present invention is to obviate these objections and toprovide a current-shunting device which while simple in construction andaffording complete protection from the weather to its various partsshall be adapted for ready use and application in and to any locationwhere required and at the same time be more efficient in operation thanthose heretofore in use.

To these ends the invention consists in certain peculiarities ofconstruction and combi nations of parts, all as will hereinafter morefully appear.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of thisspecification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of anelectric-conductorsupporting pole, showing an electric light supportedtherefrom through the intermediary of a horizontally-extending arm withmy invention applied in connection therewith; Fig. 2, a side elevationof the current-shunting device constituting my invention detached; Fig.3, a vertical transverse section of the current-shunting device, takenin the planets cc of Fig. 2; Fig. 4., an inner face View of the cover ofmy improved current-shunting device detached, showing in elevation thevarious parts carried thereby; Fig. 5, a vertical transverse section ofthe housings of the current-shunting device, also taken in the plane soas of Fig. 2, with the cover thereof removed and showing in transversesection a packingstrip that may be employed when desired; and Fig. 6,adiagrammatic view of two electric lamps and their current-supplyingconductors arranged in series with my invention applied in connectionwith them.

- V In all the figures like letters of reference are employed todesignate corresponding parts.

.A indicates the main body of the housings, which is or may beconstructed in any ap proved form and is provided with suitable ears a,whereby it may be secured in place, and with a chamber or recess A forreception and accommodation of the principal operating parts of thedevice.

B indicates a cover by means of which the chamber or recess A in theportion A may be closed and the parts therein contained protected fromthe moisture or the Weather. This cover, like the portion A, may beconstructed in any approved form; but in the embodiment selected by mefor purposes of illustration it ismade in plate form and ofsubstantially the same contour'in its outlines as that of the chamberorrecess A, in connection with which it is to be employed. As thusconstructed this cover is preferably, though not necessarily, receivedwithin a recess A formed by enlarging the mouth or outer end of thechamber or recess A by rabbeting it, as shown, and the cover is firmlyheld therein when adjusted to place by a bolt 6, which extends throughthe opposite walls of the portion A and through the cover itself andreceives a nut 17 at its outer free end.

In mostcases the joint between the bottom of the recess A and the innerface of the cover B will when clamped together he sufficiently close andtight without the employment of other means, as shown in Fig. 3. When,however, the joint thus made is not sufficiently close and tight, apacking b may be employed between the bottom of the recess A and theback of the cover, as shown in Fig. 5,'or the space between the exterioredge of the cover and the interior surface of the side Walls of suchrecess may be filled with wax or other cement, to allow for whichexpedient the inner side walls of this recess are flared or inclinedoutwardly, as illustrated. In the construction of these constit uentpartsA and B of the housing any appropriate material may be employed. Iprefer, however, to construct them, or at least the cover B, ofporcelain, earthenware, glass, fiber, or other material that is anon-conductor of electricity, as insulation of the various parts of thedevice isthereby insured without the employment of other means.

Supported from the cover B or other convenient portion of the housing Aby a screw 0 or otherwise and projecting within the chamber or recess Ais an electric contact 0, with which is connected an electric conductor0 that extends outward through the cover or other appropriate part ofthe housing for connection with one of the conductors that lead to thelamp Oas, for instance, the conductor D in Figs. 1 and 6whilecooperating with this contact is a strip d, of non-conducting material.This non-conducting strip is preferably com posed of paper,silk, orother appropriate non-conducting substance and resting against thecontact 0 is preferably supported at its opposite ends upon spools e ande, about which they are respectively coiled. As thus disposed the spoole in my preferred form of construction is rotatively mounted on a stud 6which may be fixedly secured to the interior side of the cover B orother convenient part of the housing in proper relationship to thecontact 0 by a screw 6 or otherwise, with appropriate tension devicesemployed in connection therewith-as, for instance, a washer e and screwe whereby to impart the required tension to the spool c, and therebyprevent its accidental rotation and the consequent unwinding of the endof the strip d therefrom. The spool e, on the other hand, is mountedupon a stud a which is rotatively journaled in the cover B or otherappropriate part of the housing in proper relationship to the contact 0and extending through to the outside of the same is provided on itsouter end with a thumb-piece 6 whereby it may be rotated by the thumband finger of a person when desired, an appropriate device 6 forclutching the spool to the stud e being employed,consistingin the formof the invention shown in the drawings of a wire passing through anorifice in the inner end of the stud and engaging with its overturnedend e with an appropriate notch e formed in the spool. By thisarrangement, as will be seen, the movement of the strip 61 over thecontact 0 to bring a fresh surface over the same may be effected bysimply rotating the stud a through the intermediary of the thumb-piece cand in order to relieve the friction of the strip d in passing over thecontact I preferably provide such contact with a rotatable sleeve 0which is or may be held thereon by a screw 0 and washer 0 While thus thenon-conducting strip (1 rests upon the contact c, a second contactfrestsupon the strip (1 substantially opposite the contact 0. This contact fmay be constructed in various forms and may be pivoted in the cover B orother convenient part of the housing and rest by its own gravity uponthe strip (1, if de sired. I prefer, however, to construct it in theform of a spring and to support it in a binding-post f, which is fixedlysecured in the cover B or other convenient part of the housing by ascrew f and has connected with it an electric conductorf, which extendsoutward through the cover or other convenient part of the housing forconnection with the other of the conductors that lead to the lamp Cas,for instance, the conductor D. It will thus be seen that the operativeparts of the device are all contained within the chamber or recess A,and in order to seal this chamber or recess and prevent moisture fromentering the same all the holes and apertures communicating with itsinterior is or may be closed with wax or other water-repellent material,if so desired.

With the shunting device constructed as above described it may beemployed in connection with either are or incandescent lamps that aredisposed in series and may be arranged between the conductors of eachlamp, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6, or across the circuit between any twolamps, as shown, for instance, in the aforementioned Letters Patent.When employed in connection with each of the lamps of the series, it maybe situate at any convenient point with reference thereto-as, forinstance, upon the horizontal arm E, when that form of support isemployed for suspending the lamp from the main conductor-supporting poleF- either near the pivot of the supporting-arm or elsewhere thereon,with its conductors c and f connected with the respective conductors Dand D, leading to and from the lamp. When employed intermediate any twolamps of a circuit, it may be located at any convenient position withrelation thereto, with one of its conductors-as, for instance, c-connected with the main conductor at one of the required points and theother of its conductorsas, for instance, -at the other.

With the device employed in connection with each of the lamps of aseries and the several lamps in operation then of course the shuntingdevices are all inoperative. On the contrary, when the filament orcarbon of one of the lamps breaks or becomes inoperative-as, forinstance, that at the right in Fig. 6then a hole will be burned in thestrip d of the device, forming an electric connection between thecontacts f and 0, thereby cutting out that lamp and establishing acircuit through the shunting device to the other lamp or lamps of theseriesas, for instance, that shown at the left in Fig. (i-and causingthe same to glow as it or they did before the filament or carbon of thelamp at the right was broken or rendered inoperative. The

same is likewise true when the device is employed intermediate any twoof the lamps of the series, and the device will remain inoperative solong as all of the lamps in the circuit are in operation; but the momentthat the filament or carbon of any one of the lamps or the mainconductor of the circuit outside and IIO beyond the points connectedwith the shunting device breaks or otherwise becomes i'noperative then ahole is burned through the strip d and an electric connection formedbetween the contactsfand 0, cutting out all the lamps and the circuitoutside and beyond the shunting device and establishing a circuitthrough the others, all as is well understood.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I produce a shunting devicewhich is not only cheap in construction and automatic in its operation,but one which may be located in any required position in or out of doorswithout the employment of other means for inclosing it and protectingits operative parts from the weather or otherwise,

While in the foregoing I have described what I consider the bestembodiment of my invention, I wish it distinctly understood that I donot limit myself to the exact construction shown, as it is obvious thatvarious modifications may be made in its details without departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

Having described my invention and specified one of the various forms inwhich it may be embodied, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patentof the United States- 1. The combination, with a housing constructed ofnon-conducting material and provided with a chamber or recess forreception of the operative parts of the device, a cover for closing suchchamber or recess, and means by which the cover may be held in properrelationship to that chamber or recess to close the same, of twocooperating electric contacts supported within said chamber or recess,an electric conductorleading from each of these contacts outward fromsaid chamber or recess to the outside of the device, a non-conductingstrip interposed between the contacts, spools upon which the oppositeends of this non-conducting strip are respectively coiled, studs uponwhich these spools are supported within the chamber or. recess with oneof such studs extending outward to the outside of the device andprovided with means at its outer end by which it may be rotated to movethe non-conducting strip between the contacts, and means for applyingtension to I said strip, whereby such housings serve not only to supportthe operative parts of the device, but also as an inclosing meanstherefor to protect them from the moisture and weather, substantially asdescribed.

. 2. The combination, with the body portion of the housing provided withmeans whereby it may be firmly secured in place, and with a chamber orrecess that is constructed with an enlarged'recess at its mouth or openend, a cover constructed of a non-conducting material and adapted toenter and fit the enlarged recess in such body portion, and devices forholding it in that position, of two electric contacts supported upon theback of such cover, an electric conductor leading from each of thecontacts through such cover to the outside of the same, a non-conductingstrip in terposed between the contacts, spools upon which the ends ofthis non-conducting strip are coiled, and studs upon which these spoolsare supported from the cover within the chamber or recess, of the bodyportion, with one of such studs extending through such cover andprovided with means at its outer end whereby it may be rotated,substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the cover constructed of material that is anon-conductor of electricity, two electric contacts secured to itsback,an electric conductor leading from each of these contacts throughthe cover to the outside thereof, and a strip of non-conducting materialinterposed between such con tacts, of spools upon which the oppositeends of said strip may be coiled, and studs upon which these spools aremounted likewise se-- cured to the back of such cover, one of whichstuds is provided with a device by means of which tension may be appliedto its spool,

and the other ofwhich extends through said cover and is equipped at oneof its ends'with means whereby it may engage with a notch in its spooland at its other end with means whereby it may be rotated, substantiallyas described.

In. testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 20th day ofMarch, 1902.

EDWARD R. CLIFF.

Witnesses:

WM. H. APPLETON, W. G. HAUFF.

